Working Man's Cafe

by

Ray Davies

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There is no need to go into great details here, suffice to say that Ray Davies has produced a classic album where every track is musically strong, has something to say about the world, and displays the artists' singular style with romance, a social conscience, and, of course, a sense of humor. If you loved the great Kinks' albums (Lola, Arthur, Village Green, Muswell Hillbillies) you will recognize the touches that Ray used then and re-explores on Workingman's Cafe. It's not a retread, it's an artist going in many musical directions, but never forgetting to be true to himelf. In this age of Attention Deficit Disorder and single tracks, one of the masters has asked us to listen for 45 minutes, if you chose to stay focused you'll enjoy the ride and be that much wiser for it. Ray's cd is a grand slam homer that is still in flight.

I wonder if the people who gave this five stars can hear the difference between Working Man's Cafe and Arthur or Face to Face. The critic Robert Christgau once called The Kinks 'cultural reactionaries long past their prime'. I took issue with this at the time I read it, at least in regards to their 80's work, but with this album I start to wonder if Christgau had a point.

While his peers of the 60's were screaming for peace, change and global unity, Ray Davies wrote songs about saving china cups and little shops. Well, more or less change and unity have now come via the marketplace and Ray's peers have had second thoughts about their demands as they watch jobs go overseas. Therefore, I suppose Ray Davies has first rights to bellyache about globalization but that doesn't make this CD any more fun to listen to.

Working Man's Cafe is far better than Other People's Lives, but that is not saying very much. Some of the tunes start out are fine, but only end up being pleasant, as opposed to memorable. I'm grateful that Ray still has the drive to write and record. I wish he'd done something a little more palatable which would dispel Christgau's 'past their prime' point, because with Working Man's Cafe, the cultural reactionary tag sticks all too well.